Don’t continue doing the same things because we will get the same results. We don’t have to keep making the same mistakes we always made. Failure is never a permanent condition for the Believers. We can learn from our failures and use them as stepping stones for our victory. The story of Ruth begins with failure but ends in a great victory that no one could have imagined.
There was a famine in Israel and Naomi and her family were having difficult days so they moved to Moab. These were the days of Judges when Israel was caught in the cycle of disobedience to God which led to oppression and defeat. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for deliverance and the Lord delivered them from their oppressors. They then praised the Lord but over time they got complacent and began to disobey God again. This disobedience let to oppression again by their enemies and then they cried out to God again for deliverance. This is the cycle of the book of Judges: disobedience, oppression, crying out to God, God delivering them and then they go back to disobedience again. It was a cycle that happened over and over and over again in Judges. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes and the nation was in a moral mess. God sent a famine and let terrorists attack their land to get their attention. This was when Naomi’s family left Israel.
They chose to leave God’s land and God’s people. They were running away from their problems and troubles. But more than that, they were running away from the Lord. They left Bethlehem and went to live in Moab. Moab was a place that God described as his wash bowl. They left the house of bread and praise and went to live in a garbage can. This story is like the story of the prodigal son who left his father’s house and went to a foreign country and ended up living in a garbage can. He wanted to eat the pods and slop that the pigs were eating. This is how far he had fallen. Some people move to a new location thinking this will help their circumstances. But usually they only take their problems with them. Others try to escape by using drugs or booze or pornography. And others try to escape in their work but the problems are still there. These attempts to escape can make the problem worse. This is what happened to the man in our story, Elimelech, the husband of Naomi.
Elimelech took his family to Moab and they made their home there. The prodigal son went to the pig pen but left it and went back to his father’s house. Elimelech’s family didn’t leave Moab but made their house in the pig pen. They stayed in the garbage can way to long. Sin will always take you further than you want to go and will keep you longer than you want to stay and will cost you more than you want to pay. This family’s unfaithful act kept them longer in the far off country than they wanted to stay. In verse 3 the husband dies and his two sons marry women of the Moab country which is forbidden thing to do. The wives were Orpha and Ruth. After living there ten more years, both the sons died. So Naomi survived her two sons and her husband. Sin cost them more than they wanted to pay. In the book of James it says “Desire gives birth to Sin and Sin when it is fully grown gives birth to Death”. When sin comes to rest in your life and you entertain it, feed it and allow it to grow then it will only lead to death and destruction. Elimelech lead his family away from the Lord into disobedience and death. Don’t let this happen to you and your family. Don’t give up on God and don’t run way from His people. Don’t leave the Lord and make things worse. If you have already done this then maybe it is time to come home.
As a believer in Christ, you don’t need to continue to live in defeat. Get up from your place of failure, get up from your sin and come back to God. This is what Naomi did in verse 6. She arose with her two daughters-in-laws and was going to leave Moab to go back to Israel. She had heard the famine was over and that God had given His people bread. Naomi was returning to the Lord, His land and His people. This is what we all need to do when we fail. Just get up and return to the Lord. Before you do that, consider the cost and understand what coming back to the Lord will cost. In verse 8, Naomi is explaining to her two daughters-in-laws what it will cost them to go back with her. She tells them to stay in Moab with their families because it will not be good for them in Israel. Naomi wants them to understand what it will cost them if they go back with her. She says they will be poor widows for the rest of their lives in Israel. She wanted them to know the cost. This is just like when Jesus told us to deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow Him. Jesus was telling us the cost of being a Believer and follower of Jesus.
Ruth decided to turn her back on the past and stay with Naomi. Ruth said to Naomi that she would go where Naomi went, Naomi’s people would be her people and Naomi’s God would be Ruth’s God. Ruth is making a clean break with her past, leaving her homeland and burning the bridges behind her. She is committing herself to Naomi, to Naomi’s people and to Naomi’s God. Ruth had made up her mind and Naomi accepted it. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the harvest time. They eventually received good things and this is what happens to those who return to God. He will receive you back again.
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
God is not a man that He should lie; neither the son of man that He should repent. Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken and shall He not make it good?
Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD; wherefore turn yourselves and live ye.
Seventh Day Baptists are Saturday Baptists. The Sabbath is not just the hour we are in church service but it is the whole day of Saturday. Maybe you should meditate, read the scriptures that pertain to the Sabbath to fully understand. In Genesis chapter one, God created the Earth. Today we are not going to debate the Creation of God and the science of evolution. Today we need to look at: God is the Creator, see the Power of God’s Word and see the boundaries of His Creation. The Day & Night and the Sun & Moon boundaries. At the end, God was very satisfied with what He had made. He said it was good and very good.
In our scripture, it says that God completed His work. He completed it, He topped it off like when filling up car gas. There was no more room for creation and it was done, completed. The Seventh day is the 7th day, not the 3rd day or the 5th day. We are talking about the seventh day and not the 1st day. If we are talking about the 7th day then we are not talking about No day or Any day. We are talking about the Seventh day.
The seventh day was created by God and He did nothing on this day but rest, bless and sanctify the 7th day. This is the reality of our Seventh day. In Genesis it does not give the Seventh day any boundaries, evening or morning. Its eternal and we should enter into the rest of God every day. In our Genesis text, the word Sabbath does not appear but it does appear in Exodus 20:8-10. It says God created the Earth in six days and the seventh day is the Sabbath, the day that God rested. In the Genesis text when it says God rested, was God tired or worn out? No! He rested because He had ceased the work of creation. A mechanic working on cars knows what it is to cease from working. An office worker shuffling papers knows what it is to cease from working. God ceased working because the creation week was completed. God rested from creating but was continuing to keep the universe running. In the book of Colossians it say God keeps everything together.
1) God Rested on the Sabbath: After God created a place for his people, Adam & Eve, He rested. He had created a place of worship for them and when God had completed it, He then rested.
2) God Blessed the Sabbath: He made the Sabbath happy. God happytized it and made it wonderful and beautiful. If the Sabbath is not happytized in your life then it’s on you to change that.
3) God Sanctified the Sabbath: He made it separate and sacred. It was more than a mundane, secular or ordinary day. It is set apart and sanctified. If it is not that to us then it’s not God’s fault.
God gave us a model to follow in that He himself rested on the Sabbath. We are to believe that it is a Blessed and Holy day from God. The Sabbath is a gift from God.
And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said:
“It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you. But seeing ye put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.”
And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! Then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.
There is a term called “Keeping up with the Jones”. This means you will do what they do. If they get an in ground pool in their yard, then you will get an in ground pool too. The Tenth Commandment says to NOT covet what your neighbor has. This Tenth Commandment is in the covenant document that we have with God. This is a universal commandment and that means it is for everyone: Jews, Gentiles, EVERYONE. For the Catholics, the Ten Commandments were re-arranged by Roman emperor Augustine so when you talk about the Ten Commandments, make sure people understand which one you are referring to. Especially when you talk about the Fourth Commandment and the Sabbath Day of Rest.
Lust brings forth Sin and Sin leads to Death. Coveting is lusting and lusting leads to sin. Covet is the next step up from lust. The Tenth Commandment lists all the things you should not covet after: Domestic, Dwelling and Development.
a. Domestic: Your neighbor’s wife. Don’t covet his wife no matter if she’s clean, beautiful, smart and intelligent. Don’t covet their maid servant either.
b. Dwelling: Don’t covet the material parts of their dwelling. What things the neighbor has, is what God has blessed him with. Remember all the blessings God has given us.
c. Development: The means of production in the Old Testament times were fields, oxen and donkeys. Nowadays, development means computers, jobs or other means of production. People lust, covet over the better computer or the better job that someone else has.
Coveting is a whispering in our ears saying that we want what they have. In the book of Philippians, Paul says to learn how to live in all circumstances whether poor or rich. Learn how to be content in all things. We can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens us!!
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
II Corinthian 4:13-14
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We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe and therefore speak. Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you.
